US Equity Funds Lose Another $6.6 Billion

Outflows from U.S. stock funds accelerated in early November, according to the latest statistics from the Investment Company Institute. For the week ended November 14, investors pulled an estimated $6.63 billion from mutual funds that invest long-term in U.S. equities, more than three times the $2.14 billion they withdrew from the funds the week before. Investors have yanked more than $123 billion from domestic stock funds since the beginning of the year.

Non-U.S. stock funds also took a hit, losing an estimated $1.75 billion for the week, as did hybrid stock/bond funds, which lost $1.22 billion. Both categories of funds posted modest inflows of $301 million and $553 million, respectively, the previous week.

Bond funds proved to be more popular, attracting an estimated $6.61 billion in fresh inflows. But even they were down 11% from the $7.47 billion they took in a week earlier. Of the $6.61 billion, $5.35 billion went to taxable bond funds with the remaining $1.26 billion going to municipal bond funds.

All in all, it was a dismal week for mutual funds, posting an abysmal $2.99 billion estimated outflow, their third largest this year. The two other monster outflows occurred the week ended Jan. 4, when they lost $5.38 billion, and the week ended May 23, when they lost $4.90 billion.

The weekly fund flow estimates are derived from data covering more than 95% of industry assets, according to ICI. The statistics cover long-term mutual funds, those the ICI defines as investing in long-term instruments.